Research advances in non-surgical treatment of distal cholangiocarcinoma

Distal cholangiocarcinoma is a type of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with high invasiveness and poor prognosis, and due to its low rate of early detection, most patients are in the advanced stage at the time of diagnosis. In recent years, with the continuous improvement of medical techniques such as interventional treatment, ablation, and photodynamic therapy and further development of drug therapies including chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, the role of non-surgical treatment in the multimodality therapy for distal cholangiocarcinoma has attracted more and more attention. This article reviews the advances in local treatment and systematic therapy for distal cholangiocarcinoma and summarizes related articles. The analysis shows that local treatment can relieve biliary obstruction, alleviate tumor burden, and improve quality of life, while systemic therapy may inhibit tumor growth, reduce postoperative recurrence, and prolong survival time. An individualized multimodality treatment regimen should be developed based on various non-surgical treatment methods, so as to provide more effective treatment options for patients with unresectable distal cholangiocarcinoma.